Real Time : Schiphol Clock

Today we bring you something a bit different and, dare I say, worth travelling to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport for – a 10ft high performance art clock by Dutch designer Maarten Baas.

The latest edition of his ‘Real Time’ series, it can be found at Lounge 2 of Schiphol, and is an adaptation of his existing works relating to the telling and passage of, time.

First launched at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2009, the ‘Real Time’ series includes ‘Sweepers’, in which two handymen sweep trash into a living time clock for 12 hours, ‘Analog Digital’, which features a man painting the digits on a digital clock, and ‘Grandfather Clocks’, with a video of a man drawing the hands of a clock from the inside of the clock face.

The new ‘Schiphol Clock’ was launched this month, and is an art performance work shows a video of a man in a work uniform behind the translucent clock face painting the time, each minute by minute. As with the previous ‘Real Time’ videos, this one took the ‘real time’ of twelve hours to film and thus, it takes twelve hours to watch from start to finish.

For those about to travel through Schiphol or are planning to, look out for it in the international terminal of the airport. It’s also worth noting the worker’s blue overalls, yellow rag, and red bucket, which pay homage to Dutch artist Mondrian.